Paint Shop Pro 8 - The Toolbars

In this tutorial we will begin to explore the new user interface of Paint Shop Pro. Paint Shop Pro has been redesigned with this newest version 8. Some changes you will like and some you may not. But with all the new features that have been added and the improvements to existing features, the user interface is surprisingly streamline and user friendly.

As you open the program, you will notice most of the buttons are grayed out. To make these buttons available, let's start a new image. Click File > New to open the New Image dialog box. For this tutorial we are not concerned with the details of this image. So just use the settings that are there and click OK. You should now have an image on the workspace and the buttons are no longer grayed out. In this tutorial we will explore the most frequently used toolbars.

1) Menu bar

At the top of the window is the Menu bar. This has the commands and options for the painting and editing tools. These commands and options are grouped into general categories such as Edit and Effects. Click on the heading for each category list and check out what commands and options are contained in the list.

2) Standard toolbar

The Standard toolbar starts the second row. This toolbar contains buttons for the most frequently used File and Edit commands.

3) Photo toolbar

To the right of the Standard toolbar is the Photo toolbar. This toolbar contains buttons for most of the program's photo editing features. These can be used to make corrections and adjustments to photos, and for making some very interesting enhancements to photos. You will find some of the commands on the drop-down list. You can also pass your mouse pointer over each button to see the rest of the features that are available.

4) Script toolbar

To the right of the Photo toolbar is the Script toolbar which, of course, contains buttons for the most frequently used Script commands. Scripting is one of the new features to version 8. Check out the drop-down list of preset scripts. Of course you are not limited to these, you can create your own custom scripts.